The Thing (Organism)
The Thing is a parasitic extraterrestrial organism that has the ability to assimilate other organisms in order to survive and flourish. The original physical characteristics of a thing are unknown as they could have absorbed hundreds if not thousands of other species before one of the things crashed on Earth. Biology A thing's biology is the same as the body it is replicated or is in the process of replicating. A thing also has the ability to mixing multiple characteristics together such as seen in the thing beasts. The things have the ability to heal themselves from immense damage however they are vulnerable to fire. Absorption If even a single cell of the Thing is introduced to a body, it begins a complete takeover of the host, eventually becoming the host. It also absorbs a body through the use of numerous tentacles, which supposedly wound the body, introducing the Thing cells by force Replication After a thing as absorb a creature, they have the ability of replicating them to an exact match with all memories, characteristics, and habits. Even defects are replicated. For example, Norris has a weak heart, so when the Thing took him over, it copied his weak heart because someone would notice his symptoms disappearing. When a part of a Thing becomes cut in two, both of those pieces become their own creatures and operate separately. An example is when the Norris-thing's head grows legs and attempts to escape. A piece of the dog-thing also escape when the door is slammed on it and severing it. Instincts A thing has only absorption and self-preservation in mind. As seen, things will even attack other things in order to keep themselves undercover. Countermeasures The Thing assimilate into other lifeforms in order to hide themselves among the lifeforms' own species and eventually flourish. There are two ways to identify imitations among the group, in the movie MacReady used hot wire and put it on the blood of the individual, if the blood bursts the individual is infected, which turned out to be Palmer. In the game another way is through blood test since it contains a chemical that the Thing is not resistant to, if the blood test bursts, it means that the individual is infected. The only way to kill the Thing completely is to incinerate it. History The Thing was first encountered by the Norwegian crew in Antarctica during the winter of 1982 after excavating its frozen remains, a simple lab test resulted it to be revived and caused havoc around the Norwegian Research Station. Two survivor from the research station began to hunt the Thing (that has assimilated into an Alaskan Malamute) down, the American Antarctic research station, U.S. Outpost 31 is alerted by gunfire and explosions caused by the survivors. Pursued by a Norwegian helicopter, the Alaskan Malamute makes its way into the camp as the science station's crew looks on in confusion. Through reckless use of a incininary grenade, the helicopter is destroyed and its pilot killed shortly after landing. The surviving passenger fires at the dog with a rifle, grazing Bennings, one of the American researchers. The passenger is subsequently shot and killed by Garry, the station commander. Not knowing what to make of the incident, the station crew adopts the dog. Unable to contact the outside world via radio, helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady and Dr. Copper risk a flight to the Norwegian camp to find it destroyed, its personnel missing or dead. Finding evidence that the Norwegians had dug something out of the ice, the pair return to the station with the partially-burned remains of a hideous creature which bears some human features. An autopsy of the cadaver by Dr. Blair is inconclusive, save to find that the creature had what appeared to be a normal set of internal organs. At Bennings' request, the station's wrangler, Clark, kennels the stray with the rest of the station's sled dogs. Noises from the kennel cause Clark to return, finding almost the entire sled team in the process of being messily assimilated by the stray dog, which has transformed into a monster. MacReady summons the rest of the crew to the kennel with the fire alarm. It was reported that MacReady fired several shotgun shells into the creature to no avail. He soon after orders Childs to incinerate the creature with a flamethrower. A subsequent autopsy by Blair reveals that the stray dog was an alien capable of absorbing and perfectly imitating other life-forms. Realizing the implications of this, Blair quickly becomes withdrawn and suspicious of the rest of the crew. A second helicopter expedition discovers an alien spacecraft unearthed by the Norwegian research team, revealing that the creature had awakened after being buried within the ice for many thousands of years. Bennings and Windows quarantine the burnt remains of both the dog-creature and the Norwegian cadaver in the storage room, but in the process Bennings is left alone. Moments later, Windows discovers Bennings in the process of being replicated. The crew burns the Bennings replica before its transformation is complete. Determining that all life on Earth would be assimilated in just over three years if the creature were to reach another continent, Blair goes berserk, destroying the helicopter and radio equipment and killing the remaining sled dogs, thus containing further contamination. The team overpowers him and confines him in the tool shed. With all contact to the outside world cut off, the crew wonders how to determine who is still human. Paranoia quickly sets in as the first attempt to develop a test using uncontaminated blood samples stored in a refrigerator. However, when the crew goes to the refrigerator, they find the blood samples have been destroyed by an unknown saboteur. Fuchs, attempting to continue Blair's research, goes missing shortly afterwards during a power failure. While searching for Fuchs' body, MacReady comes under suspicion and is locked outside in a severe blizzard. Somehow finding his way back to camp without a guide line, MacReady breaks into a storage room and threatens the rest of the crew with dynamite. In the course of the standoff, Norris suffers a heart attack. When Dr. Copper attempts to revive him by defibrillation, Norris' body transforms and kills Copper. Norris' head detaches from his body, sprouts legs and attempts to escape as the others burn the body, leading MacReady to theorize that every piece of the alien is an individual animal with its own survival instinct. In an altercation that precedes a test proposed by MacReady, Clark tries to stab MacReady with a scalpel, who shoots and kills him in self-defense. The rest of the crew complies with the test; blood samples are drawn from each member of the team and jabbed with a hot wire to see whose blood will react defensively. Palmer, the backup pilot, is soon unmasked as an imitation, and manages to kill Windows before being set alight and blown up with dynamite by MacReady. He then torches Windows' body with a flamethrower as it begins to transform. Confirming that MacReady, Childs, Garry, and Nauls are still human, the surviving crew set out to administer the test to Blair, only to find that he has escaped. After they discover that Blair had been constructing a small flying craft of alien design underneath the tool shed and witness Childs inexplicably abandoning his post at the main gate, the facility loses power. Realizing that the creature now wants to freeze again so a future rescue team will find it, the remaining crew acknowledge that they will not survive and set about destroying the facility with dynamite and Molotov cocktails in hopes of killing the creature. While setting explosives in the underground generator room, Garry is killed by the infected Blair. Nauls follows the sounds of the creature and is never seen again. Alone, MacReady prepares to detonate the charges when the creature, larger then ever, emerges from beneath the floor. MacReady kills it with a stick of dynamite, which sets off the rest of the charges and destroys the entire facility. After some time, MacReady is shown wandering alone in the flaming rubble. He encounters Childs, who claims to have seen Blair and gotten lost while chasing him in the snow. With the polar climate closing in around them, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust, sharing a drink as the camp burns. The Thing (video game), set after the film's ending, when two United States military rescue teams, Alpha and Bravo, are dispatched to investigate the loss of contact with U.S. Outpost 31. Alpha Team, headed by the unit's second-in-command, Captain Pierce, is dropped at the nearby Norwegian Outpost. Bravo Team, led by the unit's Commanding Officer, Captain Blake, is then dropped at the American research station. The player assumes the role of Captain Blake, and must learn how to coordinate and command his Bravo Team colleagues while investigating the ruins of Outpost 31 and locating clues and messages detailing the incident for players who are unfamiliar with the film. The mission supervisor, Colonel Whitely, will offer sporadic assistance and relay objectives via radio. This section serves as an in-game tutorial and training level and offers some insight into the events which transpired following the end of the movie. Upon securing the facility, Blake is airlifted to the Norwegian research station to locate and reinforce Alpha Team after Whitely informs him that they have lost contact with the team. During the player's investigation of the ruins of the Outpost, they will find the UFO from the film. They will also find the body of Childs, one of the survivors from the movie. The character Blake ultimately uncovers a government conspiracy, and after fighting his way through numerous black ops and creatures, fights the transformed Colonel Whitely. The player has the assistance of a helicopter pilot, revealed to be R.J. MacReady. Known Survivors of Thing Infestations *R.J. MacReady - One of the two survivors of the Thing infestation at the U.S. Outpost 31 *Childs - One of the two survivors of the Thing infestation at the U.S. Outpost 31 *Blake - Sole survivor of the US Military during their investigation at the Antarctic Category:Content